Doing what is right

Many scholars and students of Tao tend to think that dual cultivation extends to what is good and what is evil without tempering their intellectual knowledge with what the three great sages – Laozi, Confucius and Buddha – actually said. Just because good and evil exist since time immemorial does not mean it is human nature to cultivate both. It is nonsensical. Yet Daoist scholars and students often do not have the lucidity to overcome their misunderstanding or misperception of what is considered dual cultivation and/or cultivation. Perhaps their reflections on ancient thoughts do not go deep enough.

I take two passages from the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhong Yong) to elucidate why humans need to cultivate good instead of evil since the West do not readily accept the various warnings given by Daoist heavenly immortals on the subject of demons (Mo) - the opposite of Tao:

There is a way to the attainment of sincerity in one’s self; - if a man do not understand what is good, he will not attain sincerity in himself.

Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attainment of sincerity is the way of man. He who possesses sincerity, is he who, without an effort, hits what is right, and apprehends, without the exercise of thought; - he is the sage who naturally and easily embodies the right way. He who attains to sincerity, is he who chooses what is good, and firmly holds it fast.

The current political situation in the US provides a valid example of the contrasts in both paragraphs. The executive branch never really reflected on what is good and therefore the insincerity shown in so many occasions and events since 2003. While the current Congress understands what sincerity really is and is merely doing what is just and right. This allows truth to prevail and prevents more transgressions through checks and balances as the legislative branch for the people of US.

If you happen to be reading, Mr. US President, just go with the flow. While the timing on Yi prognostications given to Professor Sam Crane has been out – was it because Sam like Richard Wilhelm is not yet ready for readings on timing, one does not really know – each oracle has unfolded or is unfolding for the whole world to witness. Using key words taken from this blog like sincerity; unfolding, good and bad months; in your recent speeches and the minor operation done to your head just before the end of last Chinese New Year (probably an ingenious attempt to avoid ‘Bloody tears flow’) cannot possibly deflect the Yi prognostications.

The horse and wagon is already coming apart. It may be too late. It is high time to change your Yi advisers, if any. Changing someone’s fate is the most difficult thing to do, especially if the advisers had previously ignored the various accurate Yi oracles given to Sam and reinterpreted in this blog since 2005. In case, you do not quite understand it, Mr. President, the Yi talks about fate, not luck or Fengshui. But one still wishes you at this late hour, Good Luck! All the best!

If people especially rulers still do not understand why humans need to cultivate good to overcome evil as advocated by all major religions, what more can one say? Some people may deem such cultivation as religious or philosophical; and to conveniently do away with it, will be of their own choosing. How many in the world can really realize the cause and effect of their own right or wrong actions?

If readers think that what one wrote in this entry is only meant for the Confucians, they need to look deeper into the Tao Te Ching (Laozi) and the Dhammapada (Buddha).

It is said that Fengshui may bluff you for ten to eight years, however if lucky, Allan would be able to hoodwink readers only for a few minutes! Next!